Hazard and Kante Up For Top Award

Two Chelsea players have been named on the short list for this years Ballon d`Or. N`golo Kante and Eden Hazard have made the cut of 30 players who will be whittled down to one eventual winner. The competition which is run by France Football magazine is judged by a panel of journalists.

The last decade has seen just two players dominate the award, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have been placed in the top two for the last nine years. Kante and Hazard have been nominated for their achievements during last season when Chelsea won the Premier League title.

Since the award began in 1956, the only Chelsea player to come anywhere near to winning was Frank Lampard, who came second in 2005.

From it`s inception the Ballon d`Or was an award for the best male player to have performed over the previous year. Originally only for European players, in 1995 it was extended to include all players at European clubs before being expanded to include all players from around the world in 2007.

Only six players from British based clubs have ever won, so the chances of either of Chelsea`s two winning is remote. Manchester United players have picked up the award 4 times, three times in the sixties, and once with Ronaldo, Michael Owen won for Liverpool and the first ever award was given to Stanley Matthews, Blackpool legend.

Let`s face it though, it`ll either be Ronaldo or Messi picking up the gong when it`s announced by France Football Magazine on December 6th.